Image via Wikipedia The Arab Street
http://thwapschoolyard.blogspot.com/2011/01/arab-street.html
I've heard the term used rather frequently following the Tunisian Revolution. This revolution involved the overthrow of a corrupt dictatorship that had been highly praised by the IMF and other representatives of Western imperialism. While depriving opportunities for its people and using mass repression and torture to keep them docile, we know (thanks to Wikileaks) that the Tunisian government was engaged in all sorts of corruption and theft.
Bouazizi's death sparked the outpouring of rage that eventually toppled the dictatorship and successive governments. ( ? )
The revolutionary wave itself has spread to Egypt, where millions have taken to the streets against poverty, government corruption, government repression, and the overall hopelessness and futility of living in Mubarak's Egypt (which is an Egypt servicing US foreign policy and neoliberal economic diktat).
The US government doesn't give a shit about democracy in the Middle East. It actively and enthusiastically supports a tiny claque of dictators who will keep the oil flowing to the US and its other allies in return for a cut of the swag, and to prevent the wealth from Arab oil being given to develop the Arab world itself. The Obama administration looks with trepidation at the teetering of the Mubarak dictatorship, given Mubarak's role as the prison guard of the western wing of the Gaza penal colony.
Obama's p.r. campaign for the Middle East has failed under the weight of the reality behind the spin. He has nothing to say for the oppressed of the Middle East because he is one of their oppressors.
The "Palestine Papers" lays bare the callousness and cruelty of the US-Israeli treatment of the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority negotiators approached the Israelis with massive concessions asking for only the barest considerations in their desperate attempt to win something lasting for their people.
These PA negotiators had been prepared to attack their fellow Palestinians in Hamas, so that they could bring Gaza into the concessions as well, although they failed at that. And their Israeli opposites were dismissing their sacrifices with a curt "Not enough."
Central and South America's populations have rebelled against the barbarism of neoliberalism and US imperialism in Honduras, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador. Obama, Clinton, and their ilk have nothing to say to those people either. When you have no work, no safety, no justice, year after year after bloody, miserable year, sometimes something can make you snap. The economic disaster of 2008 is still playing itself out in massive austerity programs in Europe and the USA. International finance is creating another world food crisis. No developed country governments are promising anything to their peoples outside of counterproductive assaults on government "waste" and tax cuts (that don't benefit the majority anyway).
What is happening today in the "Arab Street" is happening all over the world and it is spreading because the incompetence* and failure of our political-economic system has given humanity no other choice but to rebel.
( *So when I say 'mistakes' in policy etc. would and do provide an excuse for deliberate and planned strategies, I imply the above is an analysis which, though plausible on the surface, relies on fabricated and unwarranted patterns of motivations as basic assumptions. Which is not to say I think the descriptions of results wrong. )
Something else to watch for: "The Great Food Crisis of 2011"
America couldn't give a stuff about the human rights of the people of the Maghreb, Pakistan, Egypt and Palestine to name but a few.http://counterpunch.org/ridley01142011.html
National Guard Suicides Double in 2010
http://iava.org/blog/national-guard-suicides-double-2010-0
Cageprisoners
Web of secrets still clouds control orders
Control orders, in their revised form, still deny the right of an accused individual to have a fair trial, to hear the evidence against them in an open court and to be punished appropriately for any crime they have committed. For those labelled as threats to national security based on secret evidence, the limbo continues. This is particularly so for foreign nationals.
On Human Rights Day, public figures call for worldwide ban on solitary confinement and prisoner isolation
Written by Andy Worthington Thursday, 16 December 2010enforced long-term isolation in all circumstances breaches Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The statement has been published on a new website, “Stop Isolation,” which aims to encourage international collaboration to put an end to long-term solitary confinement.
“Solitary confinement is one of the techniques used to ‘break’ prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. Sadly I can testify that it has the sickening, desired impact, and has caused serious mental health problems.
Image via WikipediaThe Egyptian crisis: another day, another two US policies
An American envoy's praise for Mubarak has raised the question once more of what Washington really thinks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2011/feb/06/egypt-obama-administration
Obama Lectures Egypt On “Free And Fair Elections”?? (& Open Thread)
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2011/02/06/obama-lectures-egypt-on-free-and-fair-elections-open-thread
Oh, where to begin, where to begin? How about with Barack Obama getting everyone thrown off the ballot for his first run for the IL Senate in 1996, including his mentor, Alice Palmer, so he could run unopposed? You’ll love this bit from the Chicago Tribune about Obama’s first run:
I could go on about this, and list example after example, but I would rather you take this one. Feel free to share your favorite example of how Obama has subverted the process, or how he is inserting himself in the overthrow of one of our allies, or forcing his policies down our throats no matter what we say. Have at it!
Or anything else that is on your mind. Consider this an Open Thread.
- Fighting Congo's mass rapes with an army of women - Eve Ensler is on the case! http://nyti.ms/gFxDLi
- Britain 'wanted al-Megrahi freed': Report says last government did all it could to help Libya win Lockerbie bomb... http://aje.me/gi3Xz9
U.S. set to pay Taliban members to switch sides - CNN
28 Oct 2009 ... There is a well-known saying in Afghanistan: "You can rent an Afghan, but you can't buy him."Some experts on the region believe a U.S. ...articles.cnn.com/.../afghanistan.taliban.pay_1_taliban-fighters-taliban-
UCAR lives, but aircraft switch sides - The DEW Line
5 May 2010 ... In the defense industry, stuff goes around, comes around, then switches sides. Last August, the US Navy rejected Northrop Grumman's bid ...www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the.../05/ucar-lives-but-aircraft-switch.html
On Sudan, Kristof and Bolton Switch Sides - Hit & Run : Reason ...
On Sudan, Kristof and Bolton Switch Sides · Armin Rosen | September 30, 2010 ... Bolton is more concerned with the projection of U.S. power. ...reason.com/blog/2010/09/30/on-sudan-kristof-and-bolton-sw
Iraqi Troops 'Switch' Sides, Fight with Madhi Army
28 Mar 2008 ... be us). No one should be surprised that Maliki's Iraq Army forces will switch sides when ordered to confront the Mahdi Army. ...www.outsidethebeltway.com/iraqi_troops_switch_sides_fight_with_madhi_
Christian Democrats switch sides - Norway Oct 2010
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/10/12/christian-democrats-switch-sides
Norway’s Christian Democrats, struggling with record low levels of voter support, have adopted a new strategy to boost their popularity by allying themselves with the Labour Party. The switch from the right to the left side of Norwegian politics has raised eyebrows, but seems to have support from local party leaders.
The Federal Reserve gangsters intentionally caused the 1907, 1920 and 2007 banking crisis
http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=1145
On June 4, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank). Mr. Kennedy’s order gave the Treasury the power “to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury.” This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury’s vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation.
After Mr. Kennedy was assassinated just five months later, no more silver certificates were issued. The Executive Order was never repealed by any U.S. President through an Executive Order and is still valid.
U.S. Constitution – Article 1 Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
Short URL: http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=1145
BP oil spill’s health effects will be felt for generations, scientist warns, The Times-Picayune, February 05, 2011:
… [Wilma Subra, a New Iberia biochemist] said Saturday at a forum in New Orleans… the human health effects of the spill are greater — and will linger far longer — than either the oil industry or the U.S. government has acknowledged.Read the report here.
“The effects will be felt for generations,” she said, ticking off a wide range of symptoms she said result from exposure to crude oil and Corexit. “This is what we have to look forward to.” …
Immediate symptoms include skin irritation, nausea, headaches and vomiting. Longer-term maladies can include liver and kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmia and chronic respiratory problems. Benzene also is a cancer-causing agent. …
Several area residents who attended the forum echoed another of Subra’s concerns: Many physicians along the Gulf Coast are reluctant to link their patients’ problems to the oil spill or don’t have the expertise in environmental medicine to make the connection.
Bio-Remediation or Bio-Hazard? Dispersants, Bacteria and Illness in the Gulf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/bio-remediation-or-bio-ha_b_720461.html
Stephen Harper commits treason. Signs secretive deal with U.S. to remove Canada’s sovereignty.
The deadly truth about the U.S. genetically modified foods – reproductive genocide.
The World Health Organization has a Task Force on the Regulation of Male Fertility. In 1990 a paper was published in Lancet, a well-regarded British medical journal detailing the use of testosterone injections to render men sterile. The abstract of the article noted “Hormonal regimens that induce azoospermia [lack of fertile sperm] can provide highly effective, sustained, and reversible male contraception with minimum side-effects.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1977002
Minimum, that is, if the increase in testosterone does not promote tumors (including cancer) in the brain, prostate and elsewhere as it is well documented to do.
The Natural Solutions Foundation believes that the genetic engineering of food will inevitably lead to serious damage to animals, plants and the environment which have not been taken into account through the US policy of declaring GM foods equivalent to non GM ones. This policy was put into action by President George H. W. Bush and has led to the FDA’s refusal to require or conduct safety (or other) tests on GM foods and to allow ANY food patented for its GM modifications on the market. In a clever end-run, the US is now attempting to have Codex Alimentarius, the body which sets standards for the international trade of food, to declare that any food on the market is, by definition, to be considered safe. That way, countries which require labeling of GM foods, or which ban it outright, will likely face crippling World Trade Organizations sanctions.
Vitamin Water Dangerous to Health
http://www.worldnewsheardnow.com/vitamin-water-dangerous-to-health/5872
Vitamin Water actually contains the equivalent of six spoons of sugar and has a number of 125 calories. With this composition Vitamin Water becomes dangerous to consumers as high quantities of sugar can lead to diabetes, heart diseases and most surely obesity. Alto the vitamin content of the water becomes inefficient in contact with sugar and it is not absorbed by the body.
Bolivia’s Morales Seeks African Support for UN Water Proposals
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-07/bolivia-s-morales-seeks-african-support-for-un-water-proposals.html
Backs a proposed United Nations declaration that would block the sale of public water services to private companies.
“We are going to go the UN to declare that water is a basic public need that must not be managed by private interests, but should be for all people, including people of rural areas,” Morales said yesterday at the 2011 World Social Forum in Dakar, the Senegalese capital.
Secret spying unit ‘no surprise’
A leading foreign policy analyst says it should come as no surprise that Norway maintained a secret spying unit that operated in nine countries for 10 years. Two Oslo newspapers reported its existence over the weekend, and key government officials claim...READ MORE
Static over FM radio switch-off
February 7, 2011
Norway’s government has announced plans to turn off FM radio and switch to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) in 2017 – a move that may prove unpopular with Norwegians who have not yet warmed to the digital format.Anniken Huitfeldt, Norway's cabinet minister for cultural affairs, announcing that the state will usher in a switchover to digital radio in 2017.
NoScript - note Firefox recommended pack
I've used NoScript whitelisting browser utility for years in Windows. Is there any feedback from those who have used the recommended pack ?
The Problem with Passwords
They're annoying to remember, insecure, and costly for companies
( I keep them written in a file - but LastPass has proven flexible and handy. I don't consider my needs business needs, however. )
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